Category Archives: local news

local news

‘Excited and engaged’ voters? Really?

Jaisen Rutledge wants to serve on the Princeton City Council and he seems to think that a sweet-talk campaign is his ticket to City Hall.

Rutledge, a longtime Princeton resident, joined Jan Goria in a candidate forum on May 30, hosted by the League of Women Voters.

I was struck by something Rutledge said about the nature of the constituency he hopes to represent when the runoff election takes place on Saturday. Moderator Aaron Rodriguez of the LWV asked the candidates for their views on how they would describe Princeton to a newbie looking to move here.

Rutledge said this: “Princeton is a fast-growing city that still has a small-town charm to it,” he said. “I believe … it has done a really good job of retaining a lot of its culture and I think … there’s a lot of extremely excited and engaged residents that live here.”

Wow! That’s pretty darn nice of the candidate for Place 4 on the council to say. But wait a second. Let’s take a little deeper dive into one aspect of residents’ engagement in municipal policy. Rutledge and Goria finished No. 1 and 2 in the May 2 race to succeed former Councilman Ryan Gerfers, who resigned because of health concerns. The race was for all Princeton voters. The city has nearly 19,000 registered voters living here.

How many of them turned out May 2? 476, that’s how many! That figure amounts to 2.52%.

When I see numbers like that — I only can surmise that a relatively small number of votes is aware of the chaos that lurks at City Hall. We’re on a third city manager in less than four years; our fire chief is gone; we have a new city attorney; the public works director has vamoosed; the city is trying to find a permanent replacement for the manager who walked off his job in less than two years; the police chief is now doing double duty as acting city manager and as Princeton’s top cop.

All that being said, Princeton is not populated by an “excited and engaged” group of residents. I consider many of my fellow Princeton residents to be victims of that double curse of apathy and ignorance about what’s going on at City Hall.

The place is a mess.

local news, media news

Trump’s mind is officially a goner

You might want to write this down if you’re inclined,  but just keep it in mind as you ponder the future of Donald J. Trump’s political career.

It’s now as clear as it gets that the 45th and 47th POTUS has lost what used to pass as what was left of his mind. Why? Because the dimwit in chief wants to unilaterally pull the broadcast license of ABC News because it has the temerity to broadcast “negative news” about his administration.

Holy … moly, man!

Scott Pelley, a West Texan known as the voice of “60 Minutes,” a CBS News program, spoke recently in quoting one of our nation’s founders, James Madison. The fourth president said in 1800, Pelley recalled, that a “free press guarantees the rights of all the civil liberties we enjoy.” That is why the First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the existence of a “free press.”

No matter their political party — be they Democratic-Federalist, Whig, Republican, Democrat — every U.S. president has accepted the role of a free press in holding our government accountable to the people they serve.

That’s every president until this one.

No president likes all the coverage they get from the free press. No matter their party affiliation, they hve griped aloud that the media are unfair. One could argue, indeed, that the media went too far in covering President Clinton’s impeachment, or that it labeled President George W. Bush a dim bulb during his time in the White House. Did any of our presidents seek openly to revoke the license of a media outlet just becausse they don’t shade the news coverage to suit their shallow-skinned egos? Nope!

Trump is an idiot disguised as a martyr for the MAGA movement he created and is now leading toward history’s trash heap.

local news

Our crook? Pfffttt!

A letter to the editor that appeared in today’s Dallas Morning News dredges up an old saying that seeks to dismiss crooked politicians’ seedy behavior.

The writer refers to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s behavior since taking office in January 2015. “Paxton may be a crook,” the letter writer suggests, “but he’s our crook.” The writer sought to draw a parallel between Paxton’s shenanigans and those that bedeviled President Nixon in the 1970s, and how the GOP then sought to unify itself behind the wounded pol.

Sigh …

I must ask, though, when does a crooked politician ever seek to benefit his constituents with lawless behavior? Nixon sought to save his hide by covering up his involvement in the Watergate scandal of 1972-74. It didn’t work out well for the president.

Paxton has been alleged — or actually caught — to have done a number of seedy things. They involve marital infidelity, securities fraud, payoffs to political pals, bribery. None of it helps the people who he served as AG. Several highly experienced lawyers blew the whistle on much of that nonsense — and they lost their jobs as a result.

This “our crook” BS reminds me of what they used to say about a crusty ol’ Democrat who represented Southeast Texas in Congress until 1995, when he got voted out in the Contract With America election. They used to say of the late Jack Brooks, that he was a “son of a bitch, but he is our son of a bitch.” Brooks actually liked that description of himself. But he continued to deliver the goods to the labor union and Black families who supported him no matter what.

The DMN letter writer seems appropriately skeptical of Paxton’s history. However, I consider him a plain ol’ crook.

local news

Adjusting to simplicity

One of the many adjustments I have made in my life since I lost my bride, Kathy Anne, to cancer more than three years ago involves the issue of simplicity.

My life today — at this moment — is as uncomplicated as it can possibly be. And that is saying something.

Kathy Anne and I were joined at the hip for more than 51 years. I met her in college, we fell in love almost on sight, we married eight months later. I was 21 and she was 19. We embarked on a journey that took us around the world. We managed to set our feet in 48 of the 50 states that make up our great nation. We produced two nearly perfect sons, one of whom got married to a perfect wife and they delivered us a perfect granddaughter.

Much of that great life crashed and burned on Feb. 3, 2023, when glioblastoma finished its dirty work on Kathy Anne.

The adjustment in my own life began the moment my bride drew her final breath. We all cried. We miss her to this very moment.

But … the adjustment was inevitable. The pain began to recede a little at a time. It became manageable. My tears won’t ever stop welling up in my eyes.

The greatest adjustment has been adapting to a simple life. You know what? It’s nice, man! I can go wherever I want whenever I want. My weekly schedule is fairly full these days, as I have joined a marvelous Presbyterian church, where a gang of new friends invites me to this and that event. I joined the Farmersville Rotary Club, which is a small club in number but it packs a bit of a punch in lending its civic-minded membership to various community service tasks that need doing.

I deliver Meals on Wheels in Princeton each Monday, and the clients I meet at each visit are some of the nicest folks I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I will now admit to something I’ve kept to myself for the past three-plus years. Every now and then, someone will ask me for my marital status. For a very long time after I lost my bride, I struggled with saying the word “widowed” or “widower.” I have shaken off that emotional burden, although I do admit to some unease with identifying myself as “single.”

My emotional journey is complete. The better news is that I have learned how to live a simple life.

local news, media news

Honoring my favorite Mom

You have said it. Surely you have thought it. Maybe many of you are thinking of it today.

It goes like this: Where would we be without our mothers? The one answer is obvious, in that we wouldn’t be anywhere without them.

My bride and I brought two boys into his goofy world of ours. I cannot tell you where they would be without Kathy Anne there to guide them through life’s trials I can assert, though, that they wouldn’t be the two finest men in the world. My pride in them is real, it is visceral, it is — to whatever degree one should ascribe to it — my legacy.

But none of this is about me. It is about Kathy Anne.

I lost her to glioblastoma a little more than three years ago. Her fight against this aggressive brain cancer was brief, but it was savage. I lost her six weeks after getting the diagnosis of a mass on the right side of her brain.

We were married for more than ever 51 years. She was 71 when she took her final breath.

God put her on this Earth to be a Mom. She was a natural. Her mothering instincts were virtually perfect. She always could comfort them when they hurt. She knew how to tease them without damaging their emotions. She always couched her advice into phrases that reminded our sons to trust their own instincts … and that no matter their decision, they would have their parents’ backing.

Kathy Anne taught them to be respectful to adults. She imbued in them a sense of humility. She laughed and cried with them.

And the moment she and I learned we were going to be grandparents was one for the ages. She shrieked, giggled and cried all at once.

Mother’s Day is not the same without my bride. I am continuing to build on the life she and I started. One of the key results of that life-building has been that my family and I are closer than ever.

That is how she would want it.

local news, media news, political news

Voter turnout sinks into the crapper

Hey, fellow Princeton residents, we had an election this past weekend … although hardly anyone took part.

And when I say “hardly anyone,” I mean precisely that. Election Day came and went and the entire city didn’t give a crap. What an absolute disgrace!

Check out these stats: Princeton is home to 18,923 registered voters. Of that total, only 476 residents bothered to vote. That gives us a municipal turnout of 2.52%. Roll that around for a moment.

Two point five-two fu***** percent of registered voters cast ballots in the election to find a replacement for Place 4 City Councilman Ryan Gerfers, who resigned because of health concerns. Here’s some more grist for you to gnaw on: That total dismisses the eligible residents who are registered to vote, but they haven’t even bothered to register with election officials.

The city will conduct a runoff election to determine whether Planning & Zoning Commissioner Jan Goria or Home Rule Committee Chair Jaisen Rutledge — the top two finishers in the May 3 election will succeed Gerfers.

Princeton Mayor Eugene Escobar Jr. expressed disappointment in the turnout. “I want to improve how we engage with the community and increase participation in our elections so we can actually bring the changes you are wanting,” Escobar told the Princeton Herald. I agree that the city needs to do much better.

Here’s an idea for the mayor to consider. Conduct a series of town hall meetings around our growing city. Explain to residents the importance of casting ballots in municipal election. Do we really want to cede the decision to how much we pay for services we say we want to our neighbors? We are a city on the move. We are adding new residents almost daily. It falls on City Hall to reach out to our new neighbors to tell them about our city and the process we use to keep it functioning.

City Hall, meanwhile, needs to deploy social media messaging services to tell us about the election and explain why deciding these contests keeps us involved in the process of local governance.

A turnout of 2.52% cannot be allowed to stand!

local news, media news

Once towering presence has vanished

You know some things are inevitable, but when it happens, well … you’re still stunned.

I ventured to Amarillo this week to see some friends and take care of a little personal business. Then it hit me like a punch in the puss. The newspaper where I worked for 18-plus years no longer exists. The Amarillo Globe-News, whose owner once committed to serving the community for as long as he walked this Earth, has vanished. It now operates — kinda/sorta — out of Lubbock.

My first reaction? Wow, man!

The newspaper once was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service in 1961 for exposing public corruption in government. The public service award is the highest honor given to print journalists. Well, gang, the newspaper didn’t maintain that level of admiration. It was a solid paper when I joined it in January 1995 and we did good work there. Then the shit hit the fan. The Internet took over. The group to which the G-N belonged began bleeding money. Advertisers pulled out. Circulation plummeted. Staff members were sent packing.

The newspaper group that bought the paper in 1972 surrendered to the inexorable tide of change and sold the entire group for next to nothing.

Now it’s gone.

I lament the demise of a once-grand institution. No, it’s worse than that. I feel at times — like right now — like crying.

local news

Headin’ for ‘home’ in the morning

I put quote marks around “home” for a reason, which is that I always consider where I get my mail, hang my hat and sleep at night to be home.

Tomorrow, though, the sun will rise in the east but I plan to be on the road traveling in the other direction, heading for Amarillo.

My bride and I lived in Amarillo for 23 years before moving to North Texas to be nearer to our granddaughter. We retained many dear friends over the years, just as we did in our prior Texas stop in Beaumont, where we lived for nearly 11 years before relocating way up yonder. This trip will be brief, but it’s one I am anxious to make.

I used to joke that we made the trip between the Metroplex and the Panhandle that we could identify with every water tower, cattle crossing and wind farm on the 300-plus mile journey. I think it’s still the case, although I won’t be looking specifically for those landmarks.

It’ll be a good day for me. A change of scenery also cleanses me. This one will produce the same effect.

But … let me be clear. I’ve never learned the lyrics to “Amarillo By Morning.”

local news, media news

Who gets the next insult?

Do you remember a time when you cast your eyes on the president of the United States? You felt good about whom you were seeing … is that right?

I want that feeling to return to me. Honest. I do!

I also remember expecting the president to be better than the people he leads. These days? We’re getting much worse. It comes in the form of an insult to the person asking the question. He or she is not a messenger for the “worst people” of the media world.

These are just a few of the qualities I want in the next POTUS.

I used to believe we produced the best among us at election time. I have been profoundly disappointed and saddened by the results of two of the past three election cycles. In 2016, we elected a guy through a fluke in our system that enables a candidate to win with fewer votes than his opponent. We fired that candidate in 2020 … only to bring him back four years later after swallowing a gut full of lies and promises he made.

And it has gotten worse the second time.

Don’t label me a “snowflake.” I have seen my share of scoundrels over many years covering these events.

The current POTUS, I have to concede, is the worst among them.

local news

Now … about that memoir

My network of friends comprises an inquisitive bunch, many of whom are members of that diminishing club of retired newspaper reporters and editors.

They have been asking me about the status of the memoir y’all know I’ve been working on since The Flood. I have a mixed report to deliver. First of all, it’s still alive and awaiting an eventual first draft. Second of all, I have been neglecting it for the past several weeks. I kinda place it on the back shelf.

The good news? I am dusting it off and getting ready to launch the sprint to its finish.

My memeoir has a working title: My Life in Print. It will chronicle my joy-filled career as a newspaper reporter, editor and columnist. It began in early 1976 and ended on Aug. 31, 2012. That’s 36-plus years of offering guidance, my own opinion on issues of the day and sharing with High Plains Blogger readers the experiences I had over the course of that career meeting some truly fascinating individuals. I have had a full life and I want to share some of it with you.

Ol’ Father Time has kinda gotten in the way. I am well past 70 years of age and my old body is showing signs of wear and tear. It has become a bit of a challenge sitting for any length of time in front of my laptop, telling the stories I want to tell.

My bride had this idea when my career as a full-time journalist ended. Why not, she said, write about the career you’ve had? Do it for our boys. So … I did. More on Kathy Anne in just a moment.

The list is long. I have finished writing about most of the names on that list. They include folks you know, some you don’t know and individuals who have made an impression — for good or bad — on me during my journey through life. The memoir also includes some experiences that not every human being has been able to say they have done.

Today I had lunch with two dear friends — a husband and wife — I have known for 40 years. I told them about the circumstances of losing my bride three years ago to glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer. My friends didn’t know the whole story, so I told them about it. Then my friend, Patrick, asked me, “Have you thought about writing about your story with her?” I said I have actually written about my journey through intense pain, sadness and sorrow on this blog. “Have you thought about publishing them?” he asked. Hmm. Well, I have thought about it, I said.

I believe it’s time to announce another command decision. I am going to find a way to weave some of that journey through the darkness into My Life in Print. If I find a relevant spot to insert a blog entry, I’ll try it, see if it works and then move on.

It’s time to get busy.